


Tatiana Makes A Friend

by BookishBrigitta



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Kid Fic, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21862768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookishBrigitta/pseuds/BookishBrigitta
Summary: Bruce and Natasha's adopted daughter meets the Hulk.  It goes pretty well.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov
Kudos: 30





	Tatiana Makes A Friend

A girl of about 5 raced down the halls of the Avengers compound, dark hair flying behind her as he shattered silence and ducked in and out of rooms.

“Papa! When’s lunch?” she called

Still searching for her father, she bounded into the training room, skidding to a stop just inside the doorway.

“Oh! Hi!” she said, craning her neck to look at the big, green figure standing before her. “Who are you?”

The beast studied the girl before saying, “Hulk.”

“Hi, Hulk! I’m Tatiana!”

“Hi. Ana,” he said, voice stilted.

“What’s your favorite color?” Tatiana asked, undeterred.

Hulk was silent for a while, but finally answered. “Like purple.”

Tatiana’s face lit up.

“I like purple, too!” she cried, bouncing on her heels. “That means we can be best friends!”

Hulk stared at her quizzically, but she continued undeterred.

“I’m hungry! Do you want to eat lunch with me?”

“Yes lunch.”

“Awesome! Here, follow me. I’ll show you where the kitchen is,” Tatiana said as she skipped down the hall.

The green creature followed her, brow furrowing as he tried to decipher her incessant chatter.

“I was looking for Papa to make lunch, but I can do it myself. Only I can’t use things that get hot. I hope you don’t mind. I can make sandwiches, though! Do you like sandwiches?” she prattled, not waiting for an answer before speaking again. “I do! And these ones will be extra special ‘cause Auntie Laura gave us the _best_ jam in the _whole world_!”

It didn’t take long before they reached the kitchen. Hulk followed Tatiana’s instructions to “ _sit, sit_ ,” and, with an uncharacteristic concern for personal property, sat on the floor so as not to crush the spindly mid-century modern chairs. Tatiana rushed around, grabbing plastic plates, silverware, and food from the pantry. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she knelt on the countertop and made sure the peanut butter was spread evenly on the bread. Satisfied, she closed the sandwiches and put one on each plate.

“Ta-Da!” she exclaimed, offering a plate to Hulk. 

Hulk studied the sandwich sitting on the plate (which he could have fit two of in his giant hands). The little girl noticed his hesitation and took a bite out of her own sandwich.

“Mmmm,” she said. “It’s good!”

That was all the assurance Hulk needed. He took one of the sandwich halves in his big, green hand and stuffed the entire thing in his mouth.

“Good,” he said, mouth still full of peanut butter and jam.

“See?” said Tatiana. “I told you you’d like it!”

Hulk swallowed the rest of the sandwich. “More.”

“You want another sandwich?”

“Yes. Lots.”

“Okay!” Tatiana giggled, climbing back onto the counter and unscrewing the top of the peanut butter jar.

Minutes later, Tatiana presented Hulk with another sandwich. This time, he accepted it without hesitation, eagerly putting it in his mouth and licking the peanut butter from his fingers.

“More.”

Tatiana turned around and made yet another sandwich, which was promptly devoured in the same fashion as the others. 

By this point, lunch was becoming a game. Hulk was happy to have something to satisfy his enormous appetite and someone to provide companionship outside of battle; Tatiana was tickled pink to be an authority on something and to have found someone who appreciated her limited cooking abilities. The sandwich cycle continued for another fifteen minutes before Tatiana said, “Uh-oh! We’re out of bread.”

“No more lunch?” Hulk asked sadly.

“No, no! Don’t be sad. I have an idea,” she said.

She opened kitchen drawers, rummaging through several before finding what she was looking for.

“We might not have bread, but we have these!” said Tatiana, triumphantly holding up two spoons--one teaspoon and one mixing spoon.

Tatiana handed the larger spoon to her new friend, then plunged her own spoon first into the peanut butter jar and then into her mouth. Still sucking on the spoon, she nudged the jar towards Hulk. He followed her example.

“Is good.”

“I know!”

She smiled, swinging her legs in the air. From her perch on the counter, she only had to tilt her head slightly to see his expression. He smiled back.

* * *

“Tanechka! I’m home! Lunchtime!” Natasha called as she returned to the Compound after meeting Nick Fury for a catch-up over coffee in the city.

The Compound was quieter now that the Avengers had officially retired after saving the universe from Thanos. The rag-tag family still gathered there for special occasions, but the only ones actually living there were the Starks and the Banners. Initially, Natasha and Bruce had only planned to stay until they found another place. But between the work Bruce was doing with Tony and the fact that it was nearly impossible to find a brownstone with enough security to satisfy a trained assassin and gamma-irradiated rage monster, the pair eventually decided to stay at the Compound permanently. The two families shared the larger rooms (the training gym, the labs, the library), but each had their own floor--which was where Natasha was headed now.

“Tanech--oh!”

Natasha froze as she took in the scene in the kitchen: the breadcrumbs, the smears of peanut butter and jam, the sticky handprints covering the counter. It would have been straight out of a Judy Blume novel, had it not been for the green giant slurping peanut butter from his fingers.

“Hi, Mama!”

“Hi, Tasha.”

“Hey, Big Guy,” she said absently, brain going into overdrive trying to figure out what happened.

“Mama! I made a new friend! His name is Hulk, and he likes peanut butter, too!” Tatiana said, beaming.

“I can see that,” said Natasha. “And what did you and Hulk do together?”

“I was looking for Papa, and I found Hulk in the training room. And we talked, and I found out his favorite color was purple too, and then we were friends! And we were both hungry, so we went upstairs, and I made sandwiches all by myself!” The little one paused to take a breath before continuing, “Hulk was really hungry! And we ran out of bread, but then I ‘membered we could eat it with a spoon like cousin Peter taught me!”

“Well, that sounds like quite the adventure,” Natasha said, trying to keep her voice light. “But I think it’s time for Hulk to go now. Say goodbye and then go get cleaned up.”

“But why?” Tatiana pouted. 

“Pauchok*, you’re covered in peanut butter--”

“No! Why does Hulk have to leave?”

“Because,” Natasha faltered, searching for a plausible reason. “Because I need to bring him back to...his family. Wash your hands and then play in your room until I get back.”

“Okay,” said Tatiana. 

She jumped down from the counter (they’d have to speak with her about using a step stool) and skipped over to her new friend.

“Bye, Hulk!” she said, wrapping her tiny arms around his enormous leg.

Natasha held her breath, every muscle tense as she watched her daughter hug the big green being. The top of Tatiana’s head didn’t even reach Hulk’s knee. Natasha tried not to think of helicarriers, of flattened buildings, of how easy it would be for the little girl to be accidentally crushed under giant green feet.

“Bye, Ana,” Hulk said, flopping his hand like he was trying to wave.

Tatiana let go and raced down the hall to the bathroom. Once her daughter was safely out of earshot, Natasha turned her attention back to Hulk.

“Alright, Big Guy. Let’s get you back to the training room. You’ve had a busy day,” said Natasha.

“Okay,” Hulk acquiesced, and he followed out of the kitchen.

* * *

Once in the training room, Natasha assessed Hulk’s situation. There were no signs of a struggle, and Bruce’s clothes were neatly folded on one of the benches. So this had been a planned transformation. 

Meanwhile, Hulk was still standing beside her, face and fingers covered in peanut butter.

“Okay, Big Guy,” Natasha said, wetting a towel and handing it to the giant. “Time to clean up.”

She mimed wiping her face and hands; Hulk echoed the movements until his green skin was free of the sticky nut spread and then dropped the towel in the corner.

Satisfied, Natasha sat on the sparring mat and patted the floor. Hulk lumbered over and sat beside her.

“Sun’s getting real low….”

And moments later, it was her husband slumped over beside her. She caught him before he fell to the mat, settling his head on her lap, and waited for him to wake up.

“Hi,” Natasha whispered as she watched Bruce open his eyes.

“Hi,” he rasped, blinking under the fluorescent lights. “Wha’ time’s it?”

“A little after one.”

“Tatiana had lunch yet?”

Something in Natasha’s chest squeezed at the fact that even after the morning Bruce had had, his first concern upon waking was about their daughter.

“Yes, but...about that. Bruce,” she paused. “Tatiana found out about the Other Guy.”

“What?”

He bolted to a sitting position, breathing hard, trying to shake the dizziness from his head. A moment later, he was standing shakily, and Natasha jumped up to steady him.

“Is--is--is she...what happened? Natasha, what happened?!”

“She okay. Everything’s fine. No one is hurt, nothing is broken,” she assured, putting a hand on his back and leading him to a bench.

She handed him his shirt and sweater. He put them on as he took a minute to steady his breathing.

“What happened?” he asked again, voice hoarse.

“She was looking for you,” Natasha explained. “She looked in here and found the Other Guy. And then she introduced herself and invited him upstairs for lunch because they have the same favorite color.”

“Oh, thank God,” Bruce sighed, relief evident in his face. “That’s not so bad.”

“He, ah, he took her up on the offer.”

“Good God!”

He was back to looking tense and nauseous.

“Do you need a minute?”

“No, no. Just get it over with.”

“Okay. She made peanut butter and jam sandwiches. He loved them. We’re down a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, but no other casualties.”

“Where is she now?”

“I sent her to play in her room.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Natasha’s hand moving slowly up and down his back.

“Come on, lyubov**. Go upstairs and lie down,” she said gently.

Mechanically, Bruce reached for his socks and shoes. He got one sock half way on before he paused, staring at a glob of peanut butter on his calf.

“Why--” he started to ask.

“She gave him a hug.”

**Author's Note:**

> *Pauchok-->"Little Spider"  
> **Lyubov--> "Love"
> 
> I might expand this story and/or Tatiana's backstory. We'll see what happens.


End file.
